Page:Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion volume 1.djvu/342

 something self-positing. That such is the true nature of these determinations themselves is demonstrated in logic; and it is essential to hold this fast in its true sense, namely, that it is not we in merely external reflection who pass over from such qualities to that which is their Other, but rather that it is their own essential nature so to pass over. I shall now describe in a few more words this dialectical element in the determination in question here, namely, the finite.

We say, “It is;” this Being is at the same time finite; that which it is, it is by means of its end, of its negation, by means of its limits, of the commencement of an Other in it, which is not itself. “Finite” is a qualitative characteristic, a quality generally; the finite implies that quality is simply definite character or determinateness, which is identical in an immediate way with Being, so that if quality passes away, the something definite passes away too. We say something is red; here “red” is the quality; if this quality cease, the “something” is then no longer this particular thing, and if it were not a Substance which can endure this withdrawal of quality, the “something” would be lost. It is just the same in Spirit; there are human beings possessed of an absolutely definite character; if this be lost, they cease to be. Cato’s fundamental quality was the Roman Republic; as soon as that ceased, he died. This quality is so bound up with him, that he cannot subsist without it. This quality is finite, is essentially a limit, a negation. The limit of Cato is the Roman republican; his spirit, his idea, has no greater compass than that. Since quality constitutes the limit of the Something, we call such a thing finite; it is essentially within its boundary, in its negation, and the particularity of the negation and of the Something is thereby essentially in relation to its Other. This Other is not another finite, but is the Infinite. In virtue of its essentiality the finite is seen to consist in this, that it has its essentiality in its negation,